If you didn't know, if you play chess - you are much smarter.
In this way, you develop brain circuits, exercise your memory, but also learn not to take defeat personally, but to come out of each match richer for a new friend.
In that way, the seven-year-old Jovan Obradović from Beran describes why he likes to play chess, which his grandfather introduced him to when he was five years old. He got him interested in the chessboard, pieces, moves, checkmate, and now he already goes to European competitions and records good results.
He still likes to exercise with his grandfather, but also with his father, whom he says he teaches certain moves. Jovan also practices basketball, loves football, and knows how to get up early in the morning to watch the NBA games that took place a few hours before.
He helps his parents with household chores, from cleaning to working in the orchard and with the bees, and as his father Bosko he says, he is a key link in their family dynamic.
With the help of chess, he meets new friends
When he plays with someone, Jovan says that it's nice to make friends, but also interesting to see them as rivals. Nevertheless, he emphasizes that he goes for the victory "because it is a great experience", but that chess helps him the most to meet new friends. Sometimes he's sad when he loses, but he says it's more because of the moves he overlooked.
He went to the European Championship in Turkey in November, where he played with children from Turkey, Germany, Ireland, Bulgaria and won three out of nine matches.
"I had a great time there, I made wonderful friends. We didn't just play chess, we also had various other activities, there were a lot of sports and we played... The three victories I achieved was a really nice experience for me. Whoever I played with, we became friends, so we saw each other after those matches", Jovan told "Vijesti".
Now he is preparing for the Montenegrin championship, practicing with coaches, father and grandfather. He is a member of the chess club "7. October", and he learned his first professional moves in "Diagonale". During the previous year, he was twice the champion of the school up to the third grade, the champion at the 27th Montenegrin Youth Championship, he won tournaments at the city level, as well as intercity tournaments.
His father emphasizes that they owe thanks to the club where he is currently, because there "they met with an unusual reception from the coach and management".
"The chess association currently has positive energy and they are proactive. They have activities that lead to the popularization of that sport, so they introduced chess in schools, there is a television show on the Public Service, they go to international tournaments... All this is going in a positive direction, but they are probably also limited by their budgets and capacities. Serious things require more investment. But considering the size of the country and the investments that have been in check so far, I think the results are quite respectable. The association and the club helped us to go to the European Championship", says Jovan's father Boško.
The school does not suffer because of training
A second-grade student at the "Savo Pejanović" Primary School in Podgorica manages to do all his homework on time in addition to chess and basketball training. However, he says that when he thinks about it, he prefers learning about chess.
"Chess does not take much of my time, because I always set aside time for homework and studying, but also for basketball. I practice basketball three times a week, chess twice. I do my homework in the morning before school and I manage to finish everything on time. My mother tells me to finish everything right away, but I can't do it like that, when I have many obligations," says Jovan with a smile.
He is an excellent student, his teacher Vesna Damjanović he loves a lot, and he has many good friends at school.
"Currently, chess does not take up so much of his time that it interferes with his other obligations. If he started to do it at a higher level, he would have to train more and then we would have to adjust our obligations and his school. "He is currently in the hobby phase, where he is learning and enjoying himself, but if he decides to do it, of course we as a family will help him raise it to the level he wants," says his father.
He adds that Jovan is already responsible beyond expectations for a child of his age.
"He takes care of most of his duties, he helps with most of the things that concern the household, with the bees in the countryside, in the orchard, with his mother's procurement... We also have a lot of help in taking care of his younger sister, who is a child with a disability," says Boško. .
Serious results require work and investment
Chess in Montenegro has a good position compared to European standards, considering how developed a country we are and what funds are invested in that sport, Jovan's father says.
"Of course there is room for improvement, as in any sport. Without greater help from the entire community, one cannot achieve results in chess. That's where the answer lies - for any serious result, work and investment are needed", believes Boško.
Although children in chess clubs hang out, Boško adds that they already compete among themselves, follow each other's results, that these are "children who work seriously".
"The important thing for us to understand where we are in the chess world is that more children in Turkey play it in schools than Montenegro has inhabitants. That fact alone shows how difficult it is to make a result on a European scale, even coming from a small country. The good thing is that there is a will to elevate that sport to quality branches," says Boško Obradović.
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